Hi... I'm having a load of problems with my PC restarting randomly
Well, I say randomly, it restarts mostly when I am doing demandin
stuff such as gaming. You might of noticed my other post on this..
take a look

Anyway, I've been speaking to some other people and they all seem t
agree that it's some sort of over-heating going on... the thing is
as I'm only a student (a poor student!) I don't want to go out an
buy new fans for my PC unless I'm sure it's going to make
difference.

So, can anyone tell me the symptoms of CPU over-heating? I'm reall
not sure what to do... I don't even know how to take the thing out!

One other thing you might want to know, when I first thought th
problem to be over-heating, I took the case off and had a look insid
to find an unworking case fan. This however has been replaced, and th
computer still restarts even when playing undemanding games such a
runescape.com

I'm running windows XP SP2, athlon 1700+ with 256mb RAM. Sad I know
again... I'm poor!

Thank

jezzer256 wrote:
> Hi... I'm having a load of problems with my PC restarting randomly.
> Well, I say randomly, it restarts mostly when I am doing demanding
> stuff such as gaming. You might of noticed my other post on this...
> take a look.
>
> Anyway, I've been speaking to some other people and they all seem to
> agree that it's some sort of over-heating going on... the thing is,
> as I'm only a student (a poor student!) I don't want to go out and
> buy new fans for my PC unless I'm sure it's going to make a
> difference.
>
> So, can anyone tell me the symptoms of CPU over-heating? I'm really
> not sure what to do... I don't even know how to take the thing out!
>
> One other thing you might want to know, when I first thought the
> problem to be over-heating, I took the case off and had a look inside
> to find an unworking case fan. This however has been replaced, and the
> computer still restarts even when playing undemanding games such as
> runescape.com.
>
> I'm running windows XP SP2, athlon 1700+ with 256mb RAM. Sad I know,
> again... I'm poor!!
>
> Thanks
>

Another thing to check is that the video card is not getting too hot.
Take off the side of the case and feel the video card after one of these
crashes. If it is too hot to touch it may be part of your problem.
Make sure that the fan on the card is clear and running.

Have you checked the CPU fan and heat exchanger. The heat exchanger (metal
grid) that sits on top of the process and then the fan fixes onto the heat
exchanger is notorious for gathering dust. If there is a lot of dust hanging
around the heat exchanger this will hold the heat and heat will not be
dissipated efficiently from the CPU. Also check the fan blades to see if
they are holding accumulated dust. If they are this may be slowing the fan
speed down. If dust has accumulated be careful attempting to remove it
because you can damage motherboard components. Compressed air is probably
the best, but as you are a poor student this will be too expensive. An
alternative is go borrow your grilfriends makeup brush. You know the one it
looks like the type of brushes the forensic guys use to dust for finger
prints, and gently run that over the fan and heat exchanger to remove the
dust. Finally take a deep breath and blow the dust away. Many people use the
vacuum cleaner, but you must be careful.
Another area to check is the power supply unit. The PSU uses a fan to keep
it cool. As a result the dust in the air is pulled from the bottom of your
pc through the PSU and out again just like a chimney. This fan can also get
laden with dust. One word of warning. The PSU fan is inside the PSU unit.
*Do Not* open the unit. Simply vacuum the dust away - very carefully.
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this post. John Barnett shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
post..





"jezzer256" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi... I'm having a load of problems with my PC restarting randomly.
> Well, I say randomly, it restarts mostly when I am doing demanding
> stuff such as gaming. You might of noticed my other post on this...
> take a look.
>
> Anyway, I've been speaking to some other people and they all seem to
> agree that it's some sort of over-heating going on... the thing is,
> as I'm only a student (a poor student!) I don't want to go out and
> buy new fans for my PC unless I'm sure it's going to make a
> difference.
>
> So, can anyone tell me the symptoms of CPU over-heating? I'm really
> not sure what to do... I don't even know how to take the thing out!
>
> One other thing you might want to know, when I first thought the
> problem to be over-heating, I took the case off and had a look inside
> to find an unworking case fan. This however has been replaced, and the
> computer still restarts even when playing undemanding games such as
> runescape.com.
>
> I'm running windows XP SP2, athlon 1700+ with 256mb RAM. Sad I know,
> again... I'm poor!!
>
> Thanks
>

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/
this is the website where you can download MotherBoard Monitor.
When you install the program it will detect the temp sensors on your mobo.
You will need to do some adjusting to read the fan speeds as well as the
voltages.
But it will then give you a good idea of what exactly your temps are.
An Athlon 1700 should be running about 40/45degrees celsius at the DIODE or
about 35/40 at the socket
hope this helps
peterk

--
Never trust a computer you can't throw out the window. - Steve Wozniak
"jezzer256" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi... I'm having a load of problems with my PC restarting randomly.
> Well, I say randomly, it restarts mostly when I am doing demanding
> stuff such as gaming. You might of noticed my other post on this...
> take a look.
>
> Anyway, I've been speaking to some other people and they all seem to
> agree that it's some sort of over-heating going on... the thing is,
> as I'm only a student (a poor student!) I don't want to go out and
> buy new fans for my PC unless I'm sure it's going to make a
> difference.
>
> So, can anyone tell me the symptoms of CPU over-heating? I'm really
> not sure what to do... I don't even know how to take the thing out!
>
> One other thing you might want to know, when I first thought the
> problem to be over-heating, I took the case off and had a look inside
> to find an unworking case fan. This however has been replaced, and the
> computer still restarts even when playing undemanding games such as
> runescape.com.
>
> I'm running windows XP SP2, athlon 1700+ with 256mb RAM. Sad I know,
> again... I'm poor!!
>
> Thanks
>